Picking up the Shards of the Galaxy
by InnerSanctumFish
Summary: The Reapers are gone and Shepard's fate remains a mystery to his crew. Stranded on a unknown world, the survivng crew of the Normandy must now find a way back to Earth. Post ME3 extended ending with a few tweaks.
1. Chapter 1

**Why hello there! Sorry I haven't posted anything for awhile but I have been real busy with my new job and still trying to settle in after moving to a new state. But enough out of me because your all here for a story! Hope you enjoy it!**

Chapter One

The crew had all gathered in front of the memorial wall. The entire team stood at the front with their heads bowed down. Everyone was paying their respects to their commander. Everybody was still in a degree of shock after landing on the unknown planet. As with any good crew their morale was struck a fatal blow with the loss of their commanding officer.

Slowly but surely the crew excused themselves to begin with the repairs on the ship. Only the team remained. Tali had been standing ahead of everyone, holding on to Shepard's nameplate. She had refused to add it to the others on the wall. They had already placed Anderson's name because they had heard from Hackett that Shepard was the only one still near the crucible before they lost all contact with the remainder of the fleets. Garrus had noticed this and tried to comfort her but she had merely shoved his hand away.

"Tali? Look I know that it hurts but Shepard wouldn't want you to feel like this." Garrus tried to console his friend.

"No," Tali replied with a trembling voice. "We shouldn't have left him Garrus. I'm not ready to give up on him. Not when there might still be a chance of him alive somewhere." Tali turned away from the memorial still clutching the nameplate.

"But-" Garrus started before Tali interrupted him.

"I thought I lost him once, but I'm not going to lose him again. He's alive. Don't tell me that he's gone because I know he wouldn't do that to all of us." Tali stared the turian in the eye causing him to turn away.

Nobody said anything against her as she pushed passed everyone to enter the elevator. Everyone looked back to one another and could only shake their heads.

"Is she going to be alright?" Liara asked with concern as she turned back to Garrus.

"Spirits I hope so. I still cant believe it myself. EDI, where is Tali going?"

"She has just arrived at the captains cabin. Should I do something?" EDI inquired as she turned her attention back to the turian.

"No. She needs time. Could you keep an eye on her though? We can't risk her doing anything that could be harmful.

"Of course. I will inform you if anything requires your attention." EDI nodded.

"I can't believe it. Shepard's gone again and its all my fault! I could have done something! We could have sent a shuttle or I could have even tried to pick him up." Joker looked away angrily, his voice full of guilt.

"Joker, there was nothing you could have done. We all saw it ourselves. Shepard was right in the middle of that energy wave when he set off the crucible." Ashley said as she bit her lip.

"It does not matter right now. What matters is that we cannot fight amongst ourselves and wallow in despair. The commander would not have wanted this for any of us. So we will honor him by doing what needs to be done. We will honor all the sacrifices by rebuilding now that the Reapers have been destroyed." Javik spoke up. Everyone turned to look at him and then back at each other once more.

"Javik is right. We can't just sit here." Liara nodded towards the prothean.

"Agreed," Garrus joined in. Without the commander here to keep everybody together he decided that for the time being he would see them through. Garrus felt somewhat uneasy with taking Shepard's place but it had to be done.

"Ashley, take a couple of the marines and scout out the area. Javik go with them you've got the best senses among all of us. We have no idea what could be lurking out there."

"Got it." Ashley responded while Javik merely nodded.

"James, I want a complete inventory of all the weapons and supplies we got. We might be here for awhile."

"No problem Scars. Come on Esteban let's get to work." James replied as the two of them entered the elevator with Ashley and Javik. The four of them made their way down to the shuttle bay.

"Liara, can you see if you can find any information about where we are or maybe even try to find a way to contact Hackett?"

"I will try." Liara promised before heading to her cabin.

With everyone gone to take care of their assignments only Joker, EDI and himself were still standing in front of the memorial.

"Garrus, I have encountered a problem that will hinder our efforts to repairing the Normandy. The QEC has taken some damage and will need time before it is operational again. Multiple power sources overloaded during the less than ideal landing. We will need to replace them. It is our only means of communication if Liara cannot reach anyone."

"Noted EDI. Make sure the QEC has top priorities on repairs. Anything else?"

"No, all other damage can be repaired in a relatively short time."

"Alright then. The two of you go ahead then, I'll be checking in on everyone in a bit. And Joker? I know it's hard but you did all you could, now we'll have to see how everything played out."

"Yeah. I know. I'll be on the bridge if you need me." Joker muttered as he entered the elevator where EDI was waiting.

Garrus sighed. He wished Shepard were here. The man had made everything look so easy and he could not imagine how he did it on a day to day basis. Shaking his head, he realized that it wouldn't help anyone if kept dwelling on the issue and that there was work to be done.

* * *

Delta team clambered over the rubble that had blocked most of the entrance as they continue to explore the keeper tunnels that honeycombed the Citadel. They and several other teams had been charged with finding survivors. Everyone had been skeptical after analyzing the damage that was done to the Citadel and believed they would find few if any survivors. Luckily their assumptions had proven false as there were still pockets of functionality on the Citadel where survivors had taken refuge. Despite the damage from overloading power systems and explosions the keepers were still moving about repairing various systems making it easier for the search and rescue teams.

"Figures the one time I get to visit the Citadel its in ruins." One of the marines grumbled as he ducked under a fallen support beam.

"Come on man we're not here as tourists, we got a job to do." another marine said.

The squad continued to explore the tunnels until they hit a dead end. Several beams had blocked the door.

"Jenson, upfront double time!" The lieutenant barked. The squad engineer responded immediately and began to cut away at the beams so that they can continue their search of their assigned sector.

As the team waited for Jenson to finish his task, they looked around idly. Most of the marines jumped at the noise of their radios crackled.

"_Delta team, status report, Over._"

"Hit a dead end sir. We're cutting through it. Over." the lieutenant replied.

"_Copy that. Be advised the council has been found. Continue your sweep and check back in. Out._"

"Found the council huh? Think they will help us out more this time considering its like the third time we've saved their asses?" one of the soldiers commented.

"Their politicians man. They wouldn't care if we pulled them out of a damn volcano." another soldier replied.

"Lock it down, both of you! We have our orders, and we won't second guess our superiors." The lieutenant snapped as he returned his attention back to the door.

After a few more uneventful minutes the last beam clattered to the floor as their engineer finished his work. The squad pulled the doors open until there was enough room to squeeze through in a single file line.

"Everybody switch to thermal, keep and eye out for survivors." The lieutenant ordered as they began to search the corridor.

"Wait. What the hell is that?" Jenson whispered. Everyone stopped and looked towards where Jenson pointed to.

"Jesus christ..." one of the marines murmured.

The corridor was filled with piles of bodies. Some corpses were hanging from the tubes that covered the ceiling. Several keepers were digging through the bodies as if they were organizing them. A few of them were dragging bodies into a smaller tunnel which were sealed behind them.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Jenson muttered.

"Come on. Let's keep moving." the lieutenant said as he forged ahead with the rest of the squad following after him. The squad eventually reached a large central chamber.

"Where the hell are we anyway?" one of the marines asked as he looked over the edge of the large chasm.

"According to these schematics, we're near the central Citadel control room," Jenson replied as he consulted his omni-tool, "Should be right up that ramp."

The squad walked up the ramp into the circular control room. From there they could see how extensive the damage really was. There was only the one control terminal at the end of the room along with the body of Anderson and the Illusive Man.

"No life signs sir. He's gone." Jenson shook his head as he scanned Anderson.

The lieutenant only shook his head and bent down to retrieve Anderson's dog tags. He strolled over to the Illusive Man and looked down at him in disgust.

"Look at you. Your nothing but a monster. Oh you'll be remembered alright, as the biggest war criminal humanity has ever had the misfortune of encountering."

"LT! I got something over here!" one of the marines called out.

The lieutenant rushed over and looked up to where the others were gesturing towards. There was a hole in the ceiling that had the same shape as a section in the floor that was missing.

"What the hell? Alright let's check it out. Jenson see if you can get that console working."

"It's locked down sir. I can't override the system."

"Alright then we'll do it the old fashioned way. Break out your gear boys."

The squad retrieved their grappling gear and once they had their gear in order they all fired their grappling lines in unison. The grapples once powered on would adhere to any surface. One by one they all climbed to the top. The Lieutenant reached the top first and raised his gun as he secured the perimeter before helping the rest of the team up. There was even more rubble here as including entire sections of the crucible that had collapsed after it's activation.

"What we looking for LT?" one of the men asked as he flicked his light on.

"We're looking for the commander. Hackett had said that Shepard was up here with Anderson and we didn't find him down there so he might have gotten up here to set off the crucible or something."

"There's no way we'll be able to find him in all this rubble without support. Lets head back to HQ and call in a demo team." the marine argued.

"Stow that marine. We don't leave a man behind."

"Must have been one hell of a light show up here when that thing went off. You really think the commander could survive that?"

"We all thought he died before and we were wrong." The lieutenant shouted as he clambered across the rubble covering the platform. Two of the platform bridges had collapsed to the left and ahead of him leaving only one bridge partially intact.

The squad made their way to a juncture that had various tubes leading to it. As they got closer to the rubble they heard a noise.

"Quiet! Did you hear that?" The Lieutenant signaled for the squad to keep quiet.

Jenson quickly scanned the rubble and his eyes widened as he looked at the readings on his omni-tool.

"Holy shit!" Jenson exclaimed.

"What?" The other marines asked.

"It's Commander Shepard!" Jenson pointed at the rubble excitedly.

"Well don't just stand there gawking you idiot! Call in the med-evac! Now!"

"Yes, sir!" Jenson switched the frequency on his radio. "This is Private Jenson of Delta team. We need an immediate med-evac, sending coordinates now. We found Commander Shepard. I repeat. We found Commander Shepard."

"_Med-evac is on the way. ETA, five minutes. Good job Delta team._" The dispatcher announced.

**Well that's all for now. Also just to clear up any confusion that might occur, I am using a modified extended cut destroy ending to help set up for future stories. But I will explain it with future chapters for this story. Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everybody! Sorry for the wait but my editor insisted on having me going back to fix up some stuff before proceeding. Big thanks to anyone who read the previous chapter. So yeah it took me a while to get the chapter to turn out the way I wanted it. Anyhow lets get on with it shall we? Enjoy!**

Chapter Two

Garrus sat in the mess alone, examining the reports on the Normandy's repairs. They had hit a few snags but almost all of the problems were taken care of with relative ease. Any of the systems that had been compromised were now repaired with the exception of their long range communications and QEC. Garrus sighed and leaned back in his chair, dropping his datapad carelessly onto the table. He had been working constantly ever since they had begun their repairs. He wasn't sure of how long they had been stranded because of the strange time cycle of the unknown jungle planet. He estimated it had been close to a week.

Most of the non-essential crew were either sleeping or on guard duty. He had even considered snagging a few hours of sleep, the idea of closing his eyes was appealing. However he had decided to check in with everybody. Grabbing a few tubes of nutrient paste, Garrus made his way to the elevator and tapped the button for the loft. Garrus waited as the elevator took him to his destination and was forced to wait a bit longer as the decontamination cycle started up.

At last the door lock opened and he entered the cabin. The cabin was dark, the majority of the light came from the fish tanks while what little light the stars gave off was angled towards the office through the skylight. Moving as quietly as possible, he made his way into the office.

"Tali?" Garrus called out. There was no reply except for a slight rustling in the back of the room.

Garrus took a few more steps into the room before stopping. Squinting, he could just see the outline of his friend sitting at the edge of the bed.

"I brought you something to eat. You know in case you get hungry." Garrus continued as he pulled out the paste and set them next to Tali. He knew better than to ask her how she was feeling. Tali was a powder keg just waiting to explode and if he wasn't careful he could set her off.

Again, Tali did not reply but gave him a slight nod. It was obvious that she was not ready to speak with anyone.

"Alright well if you need anything, just shoot me a message or tell EDI." Garrus tried once more but only earned a small glance. Feeling awkward and out of place, he retreated from the cabin and hit the button for the cargo bay. Garrus could only imagine how Tali was feeling and hoped that she would pull herself together eventually.

* * *

Liara staggered up the ramp into the cargo bay. Each step she took was heavy and she was grateful for the shelter of the Normandy. She had been gathering as much data as she could about their surroundings and taking pictures of some of the constellations. Hopefully she could compare it to the star charts on her computer and figure out where exactly they had ended up. As fascinating the world was, Liara knew that she had to focus on finding a way to reestablish contact with the rest of the galaxy.

With Javik's help, they had determined that they were on a world that had evolved with levo based DNA. They had encountered some wildlife but nothing that seemed threatening. The marines weren't convince as easily and had set up various defensive positions around the Normandy. She deposited most of her equipment on the table near the elevator except for her sidearm. As soon as she finished stowing her gear away the elevator pinged, Liara glanced up and saw Garrus emerge. He looked around the bay for a moment before joining Liara.

"Anything useful?" Garrus queried as he pulled his rifle off of the wall.

"I've managed to gather several detailed images of the constellations. I'm hoping that it will help narrow my search." Liara replied while she showed the images to Garrus from her omni-tool.

"Well let's hope that it helps." Garrus nodded as he shoved a few spare clips into his ammo pouch.

"Have you checked on Tali yet?" Liara asked. She worried for Tali and could only hope that she could help her in some way.

"Yeah."

"How is she then?"

"Not much better than yesterday. She's been eating at least. I'm still worried though." Garrus answered while shaking his head.

"I'll check on her in a bit. I'm on my way up to the CIC to see if Traynor has had any luck."

The two of them nodded before they went to their respective tasks. Garrus strolled across the bay and down the ramp. The marines who were on guard duty tonight nodded to him before returning their attention to their assigned areas. Garrus saw James sitting on a crate, James had his Valkyrie in his lap as he scanned the treeline.

"Hey Scars." James acknowledged as Garrus stopped by his side.

"James. Everything quiet out here?" Garrus asked.

"All quiet except for the crickets. But I don't think it's crickets making the noise. Long as it doesn't turn out to be man eating bugs I'd say we're secure."

"Well if they do turn out to have a appetite for humans you can add it to the list of things you dealt with," Garrus remarked before asking,"How are we on supplies?"

"Well we got plenty of food to last us a good few months. As for the dextro stuff, I'd say for at least two months. So we don't have to worry about food right away. We definitely have enough weapons and ammo in case anything decides to attack us." James explained as he shifted in his armor.

"Sounds good to me. Most of the repairs are taken care of, although Adams and his team had to cannibalize the shuttle power cells and all of the spare parts they could get their hands on."

"Yeah I heard Esteban didn't like the idea that much. Any chance the Normandy is space worthy again?"

"I wouldn't take a chance with it right now. We don't have to worry about a discharge but what I'm worried about is if the systems can handle it when we try to make it back into orbit. Besides there's no use in going anywhere until we get our communications back online." Garrus explained as he looked back to the Normandy.

"Got it. If your looking for Ashley don't bother, LC took another team to scout out the area some more, she said she would be back in about an hour. As for Javik he's over there." James nodded towards the edge of the cliff.

"Thanks. Stay sharp."

"You got it Scars."

Garrus let the marine get back to his duties and wandered over towards Javik and took in the vista with the Prothean. The alien sky still unnerved him, the constellations were different. The thought of it only reminded him of home and how far it was.

"Vakarian." Javik finally spoke.

"Javik. Hows everything going so far?" Garrus replied. He was still annoyed that Javik still spoke to him in a condescending manner except when they were discussing wars.

"If you are referring to the reconnaissance mission than it was successful and little has happened. But if the question was about me personally, that is none of your concern." Javik's reply was blunt as he continue to stare off into the distance.

"Listen Javik, we're all in a rough situation and we need to work together." Garrus pointed out.

Javik did not say anything but tilted his head slightly as a sign of understanding.

"Is there anything we need to be on guard for?" Garrus asked in a more direct manner.

"There is always the need to be on your guard. But no, there is nothing that can threaten us at the moment. Life on this planet is still in it's early stages. We are most likely the only intelligent life on this planet right now." Javik explained.

Javik paused as he looked back to the Normandy and then back to the Garrus before asking, "How is the quarian?"

The question caught Garrus by surprise. Javik rarely showed any concern for anyone else unless he considered them a risk that needed to be eliminated. Garrus heard of the many times Javik arguing with Shepard on the topic. Still Garrus bristled at the way Javik had addressed Tali.

"_Tali_," Garrus stressed the name before going on, "is doing fine. She still needs time."

"War has it's losses. It does not matter how great a person is, death always lurks in the shadows waiting for a chance to steal the light away. If she does not accept it than she will become lost to us."

Garrus shook his head before turning away to head off to his perch in the trees. Arguing with Javik was pointless. He couldn't blame him though, Javik did have a point, but it didn't mean that Garrus wanted to agree. Garrus even suspected that if Javik had the chance, he would have let them all die if it brought his people back.

Grabbing the rope that was attached to the tree, Garrus pulled himself up until he reached his branch. Pulling out his rifle, he watched the clearing as he pondered Javik's words. Although Javik might be correct, something deep inside him told that Javik was wrong. Shepard had always done the impossible, he had already cheated death once. Hopefully luck would would be on their side again.

"Spirits, if your out there give us a sign that Shepard is still out there somewhere." Garrus murmured as he looked out onto the alien sky.

**There you have it folks. Now if you felt that the chapters were too short, don't worry. I am going to make the chapters longer as things pick up. I'll try not to keep you waiting too long on the next one. Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Why hello there! Sorry for the delay everybody. This was suppose to come out on Halloween, but I had a couple of exams and several instances of writers block and I ended up working on my other story for a bit. Anyway on with the story!**

Chapter Three

Bright light was the first thing Shepard saw as he opened his eyes. Everything beyond the light was blurry and for a moment he thought he was staring at the sun. He blinked several times to clear his eyes. He tried to turn his head but couldn't, it felt like his entire body was made out of stone.

"Look at the monitor. Something's off. It's possible he's reacting to the meds." A voice came from the left.

"Heart rate is rising. I think he's waking up. Get the doctor now!" A second voice replied.

Shepard heard the patter of feet move away quickly and saw a nurse's masked face as she leaned into his vision.

"Commander. Don't try to move right now. I need you to lay still and stay calm. Can you do that?"

Shepard did not get the chance to reply before he heard the first nurse return with the doctor. Before he could ask what was going on, his vision blurred again and he felt drowsy. The last thing he heard was the doctor stating the sedative had been administered.

* * *

Shepard opened his eyes again. The light had been dimmed down and he found himself staring up at the ceiling for several minutes. He groaned with every slight movement he made. At least the bed felt soft but that didn't stop the feeling of pain flaring up with every little movement. With some difficulty, he looked around the room. The room itself was small and the walls and ceiling were a dull white. There was a single window opposite of the bed although he couldn't really what was outside. It was pretty barren for a room, the only things that were in the room was a single chair by the door and the medical equipment beeping away next to the bed.

He figured he was in a hospital, the heavy smell of antiseptic and medical equipment made that evident. He tried to remember how he got there. The last thing he remembered was fire rushing out at him and then waking up briefly before the doctor had given him a sedative. Hoping to get some answers, Shepard took hold of the call button and gave it a light squeeze.

Shepard didn't have to wait long before a tired looking doctor and nurse came into the room a minute after he pressed the button.

"Hello Commander. We're glad that your awake. You gave us quite the scare when the med-evac brought you here." the doctor greeted Shepard as he handed a datapad to the nurse. The doctor pulled up the chair next to the bed and sat down while examining Shepard with interest.

"I am Doctor Charles. Now I would like to ask you a few questions. That is if you are feeling up to it?"

Shepard nodded his head and waited for the doctor to proceed with his questions.

"What is your name?"

"Louis Shepard."

"Alright, do you know the year?"

"2186." Shepard answered again. He realized that they were making sure if he remembered anything.

The questions continued on for another few minutes until Charles was satisfied that Shepard was able to answer them all. The nurse was called away to help with another patient and left Shepard and Charles alone in the room after she made sure that the machine administered another dose of morphine.

"Doc, can I ask you something?"

"Of course Commander, I will answer you to the best of my ability." Charles nodded patiently.

"Where am I? What happened? All I remember before waking up was that I was on the Citadel arming the Crucible. How did I end up here?"

"Your in London right now. I don't know much about what happened on the Citadel, I was on the ground patching up several marines before we were attacked by husks. We were just about to be overwhelmed when all of a sudden all of the husks just disintegrated. You said you armed the Crucible correct?"

Shepard nodded in response, the medication helped numbed the pain he was feeling.

"Well whatever you did up there fired some sort of energy wave that disabled the Reapers up in orbit and from what we can tell all over Earth. We probably wouldn't have made it if the Crucible was never activated."

"So did it stop all of the Reapers then?"

"I couldn't tell you for sure. We're still having troubles trying to reestablish contact with the rest of the world and whoever is left on the Citadel let alone the rest of the galaxy. Right now we are trying to search for survivors up in orbit with the few ships we still have."

"I see. How long have I been out?"

"You have been out for a week and a half. The team that found you on the Citadel called in a med-evac and secured you as best as they could. You were in critical condition when the shuttle landed back here in London. Multiple broken bones, minor second degree burns, significant loss of blood, you were comatose when they landed. If it weren't for your cybernetics, and those structural beams that sheltered you when all the rubble fell, you probably would have died." Charles explained.

"We've already corrected some of your injuries with some additional minor cybernetics. Your protein overlay helped with your burns so we didn't have to resort to skin grafting but you still might feel some irritation. However some of your injuries will take time to heal naturally."

"Please get some rest Commander. We've worked hard to keep you stable, I'm going to see to it that it stays that way. Once your in better condition we will help you with the physical rehabilitation process." Charles spoke as he stood up and prepared to leave.

"Wait," Shepard called out, causing Charles to pause and look back at Shepard, "Is there any news of my crew? The Normandy?"

"I'm sorry Commander, but like I said; we don't know. It will still be awhile until reestablish contact with the rest of the galaxy. We don't even know if the fleet is still out there." Charles responded with a furrowed brow before continuing, "I'm sure that your crew is alright."

"Thank you doctor." Shepard replied and watched Charles leave the room.

Silently, he closed his eyes and hoped that everyone had made it out alright. He was worried about them. But until he could figure out what happened to them he would have to try to get better first.

* * *

Another week went by and Shepard felt much better then he did when he woke up in the hospital. He was finally allowed to move about as long as he did not strain himself unnecessarily. His routine quickly became one of enduring a battery of scans and medication, followed by a meal, then a few hours of physical therapy usually under the supervision of an orderly or Dr. Charles when he wasn't occupied with another patient. Dr. Charles had been true to his word about making sure the therapy would go by as smoothly as possible.

There were still times when Shepard felt it difficult to walk and occasionally had to limp. Charles had assured him that it would not be permanent and that he would be able to function normally once his therapy was done. It was also comforting that he wasn't the only one undergoing therapy.

There were many other patients in therapy as well, all with varying degrees of ailments. The majority of them were marines that were injured during the push into London. There were other patients as well all of them survivors of what was left of the hammer ground forces. Almost all of the patients knew him but most of them kept their distance out of respect. The hospital was understaffed and every now and then faced shortages of food and medication. There was several times Shepard gave up his meal to someone who needed it more. Shepard and some of the paitents that were better off tried to help in what way they could. It was a lifting sight to see different species helping each other despite their past histories. Shepard was glad that he played a role in helping the galaxy unite under a common goal and hoped that it would continue.

Halfway through his second week of therapy, Shepard was walking back to his room with Charles accompanying him. Charles was going over the results of the therapy.

"I'm quite impressed at the progress your making commander. None of our patients have the remarkable rate of healing you have. At this rate you could finish your therapy sooner then we predicted." Charles commented as he continued to go through Shepard's evaluations.

"I try my best doc. We still have a lot of work to do out there and I want to make sure I do my part." Shepard replied.

"With all do respect commander, I believe you have done enough for the galaxy. Perhaps it would be best if you were to take care of yourself first."

"You might be right." Shepard nodded as they stopped in front of the door.

"Well whatever you decide to do, I am sure that it will be for the best. Oh and before I forget, you have a visitor waiting for you in your room."

Shepard nodded. He was curious about who would be visiting him. He entered his room and and saw his visitor sitting at the edge of his bed. It was Major Coats.

"Major Coats? What brings you here?" Shepard asks as Coats stood up.

"Came here to check in on some of my men. I heard that you were here as well and decided to see how you were doing." Coats replied as he shook Shepard's hand.

"Thank you. It's good to see that your holding up too."

"Likewise Shepard."

There was a moment of silence between the two of them before Coats picked up the conversation again.

"You've done a helluva thing Shepard."

"I didn't do it on my own. A lot of people died along the way to make sure we won." Shepard replied quietly as he mentally went through the list of people who had died.

"Very true. I've heard about Anderson. It's a shame that it had to end that way but I'm sure he would have done the same thing," Coats nodded before changing the topic, "Commander, there is something I need your help with."

"What is it?"

"Our forces are spread thin right now and we've been trying to reconnect with anybody that might be out there still. It would definitely speed things up if you were to participate at the talks."

"Playing politician again huh?" Shepard said as he mulled the idea over in his head as he walked over to look out the window.

"I don't like it either but hell you got almost all of the species to play nice with one another. You'll make an impact, I'm sure of it."

"Well if it helps than I'll do what I can. When am I leaving for this?"

"Three to four days depending on when a shuttle is free to take you to Kiel."

"Kiel? The naval facility in Germany?"

"That's the one. Their operations helped us springboard a lot of the resistance from the continental Europe to London. It's also one of the few places left that has a communications facility that the Reapers didn't find."

"Never knew they had a comms facility there." Shepard remarked.

"I didn't either until Anderson brought it up when we were trying to get a picture of what was happening in London. Unfortunately, I've got to stay here to oversee the recovery process. But you will have a escort accompanying you."

"I see. Any idea who my escort is?"

"The team that found you on the Citadel volunteered. They will help you with anything that you need. That is if you don't have someone else in mind."

"Sounds good. Tell them that I am thankful for their help and that I am honored to have them with me."

"Of course Commander. I'd better get going. If anything comes up I'll let you know."

Once Coats left, Shepard gingerly sat down on the bed. He didn't like the idea of playing a politician again but on the other hand he could probably use this to his advantage. If he was going to head to a comms facility than he had a chance to use a QEC and contact the Normandy. It was a slim chance but it was the only way of knowing if his crew was out there still. Holding on to that hope, Shepard tried to get some sleep but all he could think of was Tali and hoped that she was safe.

* * *

While Shepard was laying in bed thinking of Tali, Tali herself was sitting in the lounge of the Normandy by herself. It was late and most of the crew had gone to sleep. She was exhausted and just wanted to be left alone. Tali had finally left the cabin at EDI's insistence that she was needed down in Engineering. Even though the crew was relieved to see Tali working again they maintained a respectful demeanor and made sure she got what she needed for her repairs. The work did help take her mind off of her troubles, however Tali had refused to speak with anyone aside from EDI.

Not wanting to go back to the cabin, she retreated to the lounge where she hoped that Shepard's absence would not bother her as much. However she could only claim a small amount of success even with the help of the five glasses of brandy she had drank. Sloshing her drink around in her container, she could only think of Shepard and all of the conversations they had.

Tali missed hearing the sound of his comforting voice and seeing the warm smile he would often give her. She missed all of the late nights the two of them had together, both when they were feeling intimate or just talking about a myriad of topics. It was one of the few things the two of them could do to unwind during their struggles to bring about the downfall of the Reapers. Those warm memories made her smile until she remembered the last words Shepard had said to her before he told Garrus to take her onto the Normandy without him. How he had told her to go back to Rannoch and to live her life. It wasn't fair, Tali thought to herself. She had finally found her piece of happiness in the galaxy and it was forcibly taken away from her.

It wasn't long before she realized that tears were sliding down her face again. She quietly sobbed to herself, cursing the misfortune that always sought to make her miserable. Just as quickly, anger replaced her sadness as Tali took hold of the container and threw it against the wall, causing the brandy to spill out onto the floor. Tali continued to breathe heavily unaware of the door to the lounge sliding open.

"Tali?"

Tali spun around in her seat to find Liara standing at the door, a worried expression on her face.

"Are you alright?" Liara asked as she approached Tali.

"I'm fine," Tali lied before asking, "How did you know I was here?"

"It's hard not to know these things when your the Shadow Broker." Liara gave a slight smile. She noticed the spilled container in the corner and judging by Tali's current body language, she was not feeling fine.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. I told you I'm fine." Tali repeated herself again.

"Tali we both know that's not true." Liara said gently as she placed a hand on Tali's shoulder.

"I... I just miss him so much. I just want to know what happened to him, and if he is alright."

"I know Tali. All of us feel that way. I'm sure he is out there right now figuring out a way to find us," Liara tried to reassure her friend before continuing, "Come on. You shouldn't be drinking."

"Where are we going?" Tali asked as Liara helped her stand up.

"Just to my cabin until the alcohol wears off." Liara said. She was worried that Tali might do something harmful in her drunken and depressed state.

Tali only nodded as she allowed Liara to guide her out of the room.

**Once again sorry for the delay. I'm actually thinking of moving my usual release dates to the end of the month and using the extra time to polish the chapters more. Don't worry though I am currently halfway through the next chapter but I am trying to make these chapters a lot longer. Until next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everybody, extremely sorry for the delay but both me and my editor have been very busy with various projects and we didn't get to release this chapter on our intended date. Hope everybody had a wonderful holiday. Big round of applause to everyone who read the previous chapter. Well I won't keep you any longer so please enjoy!**

Chapter Four

"Please, make yourself comfortable." Liara said as she welcomed Tali to her cabin.

"Thank you." Tali replied as she looked around while Liara strolled to the back of her cabin to put her findings away. She had never been inside Liara's cabin before. Unlike their time on the first Normandy, where Tali would occasionally visit her friend, Liara had become a more private person.

"How did you managed to get all of this from the Broker's ship?" Tali asked Liara as she admired all of the equipment.

"Well when I found out that the Illusive Man had tracked me down, I decided it was time to relocate. Feron and I took as much of the equipment we could and loaded it onto a shuttle. We made sure that they couldn't use anything that was left behind."

"So they took the ship?"

"Not exactly. The Broker's ship wasn't exactly designed for combat and it certainly wouldn't have been able to outmaneuver a Cerberus cruiser. So I decided to send a message to Cerberus."

"What kind of message?"

"The kind that involves crashing the Broker's ship into the cruiser." Liara said simply. The two of them shared a laugh together.

While Liara took care of her findings, Tali continued to look around. She was impressed by the amount of equipment Liara had managed to squeeze into the cabin. It reminded her of how her people would maximize the limited space that they had to work with. On closer examination, Tali saw that Liara was piecing together a series of constellations to pinpoint where they were. Many of the monitors were being used to project a star chart of the galaxy with various portions denoted in red.

As she examined the chart, she saw a drone float by the monitors and marked another section of the galaxy in red. Somehow the drone had noticed Tali staring at it.

"Greetings Tali'Zorah." Glyph greeted her in an enthusiastic manner.

"Hello. How do you know me?" Tali replied. She had no idea that Liara had a drone.

"You are in many records that I routinely handle and categorize for Dr. T'soni."

Feeling a bit unsteady, Tali sat down on the chair near Liara's terminal. Maybe she did have a bit too much to drink, she thought to herself.

"Are you feeling well? Would you like me to inform Dr. Chakwas that you require her help?" Glyph inquired.

"Thank you, but I can manage." Tali replied as she tried to shake off the disorientation.

"Of course. If you require anything, please let me know." Glyph responded before turning its attention back to the monitors and continued to upload Liara's findings.

"I see you have met Glyph." Liara commented as she finished putting away her things.

"Yes. I assume it helps you with your work." Tali commented as she watched Glyph dart back and forth.

"Glyph has been very helpful in coordinating the network. Hopefully when we reestablish contact, Glyph might be able to contact someone. If everything goes according to plan, then maybe they can find us."

"I hope it works." Tali replied quietly. Liara silently berated herself for inadvertently reminding Tali of Shepard.

"Do you think that the data you found will help?" Tali asked suddenly.

"I'm sure that it will. With Traynor's and Glyph's help, I'm confident that we will be able to contact someone." Liara tried to reassure Tali. She wasn't actually sure if it would work, but she could not afford to tell Tali that.

"Hey Liara. Traynor said she needs your help with something." Joker's voice chimed in suddenly causing both Liara and Tali to jump.

"Look I need to go talk to Traynor. Would you mind staying here until I get back?" Liara asked. She was worried about leaving Tali alone but she was sure EDI and Glpyh would notify her if anything happened. She made a mental note to head over to Dr. Chakwas before going to the CIC to tell her to keep an eye on Tali while she was gone.

"Alright." Tali nodded.

"Again, feel free to look around while I'm gone." Liara called out before leaving the cabin.

Closing her eyes, Tali tried to clear her head. She wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and just forget everything. However it was impossible for Tali to forget anything when everything reminded her of Shepard. Taking a deep breath, Tali struggled to subdue her feelings while at the same time searching for something to distract herself. Whether it was by chance or on purpose, Tali's eyes landed on the terminal next to her. She wondered if it was Liara's personal computer.

"Glyph?" Tali called out as she turned around to look at the info drone.

"How may I help you Tali?" Glyph chirped as it turned it's focus away from the monitors.

"Is Liara the only one who can use this terminal?"

"While Dr. T'soni usually uses this terminal for her work, she has not placed any restrictions on the ground team from accessing various information."

"So I can use it then?"

"Of course. Is there anything in particular you are searching for?"

"That's alright, I can take care of it myself. If I have any questions I'll ask you." Tali replied as she turned back to the terminal and accessed it.

The amount of information that appeared on screen astounded Tali. She had no idea how Liara could handle sorting and analyzing all of the information she received even with the help of Glyph. All of the data on screen right now had something to do with star charts, lists of unsettled planets, and council reports of various systems.

Scrolling past Liara's current work, Tali took note of the various files that the terminal contained. The files contained all sorts of information ranging from various government activities to mundane surveillance and anything that the new broker deemed important. She felt a little uneasy with having access to this kind of information and she wondered how Liara dealt with it on a regular basis.

After sifting through all of the files, Tali found what she was searching for and opened up a file that contained a list of noteworthy individuals. Many of the names on the list were unfamiliar to Tali, however there were some she had heard of in passing.

There was an extensive dossier on each and every important political and military leaders including the council, the heads of various governments, and noteworthy generals and admirals. She was also surprised to see very detailed dossiers on each member of the admiralty board including herself.

Curious, Tali opened her own dossier and scanned it's contents. There were only a few entries that included a suit process log, a message chain, keystroke log, and a more recently added entry on her activities when she became a admiral. Taking a moment to read each entry, she wondered how the shadow broker's network had even gathered that much information on her.

The upgrades for her suit had been done in the utmost secrecy and most of it was when she was still with the flotilla. Tali felt herself blush a little as she saw the various suit applications she had made in order to be with Shepard. She could only hope that Liara respected her privacy.

"Glyph?"

"How may I help you?" Glyph chirped as it turned its attention away from it's activity.

"How did the broker get access to the fleet?"

"The broker had no direct access to the fleet. There was no reliable source of information and it was difficult to have an agent placed within the fleet. A plan was devised involving a decommissioned ship and an agent acting as a pilot for a transport shuttle carrying a quarian pilgram. The pilgram discovered the ship and contacted the fleet and presented the ship as their gift."

"I still dont see how this ship managed to get access to fleet surviellance."

"The ship's onboard computer was loaded with one of the broker's program. When the ship was reactivited and pressed into service, the program seeked out a connection with quarian communications and surviellance. It has escaped detection by disguising itself as a debug procedure."

Tali shook her head. It was so simple and her people never knew it was even there. Thanking Glyph, Tali turned her attention back to her dossier. The next entry was a log from Tali's personal keystroke. She instantly recognized it as her failed attempt at her letters of condolences. She remembered how difficult it had been trying to find the right way to word it so that the families could find some comfort in it.

Tali had tried multiple times on separate occasions but abandoned it in the end. She did eventually meet with each family personally and they were grateful that Tali told them what had happened on Haestrom but Tali had felt as if her presence only made it harder for them. Shaking her head, Tali moved on the next entry.

It took a moment for her to realize that the message chain she was reading was when she was younger. Tali remembered how scared she was after she had found information on Saren's betrayal. Reading the former Broker's replies and the orders he had given to Fist, she realized how naive she was to have trusted him. She was lucky that Shepard had found her in time.

Things would have probably turned out much more different if she had never found proof of Saren's work with the Reapers. In a way, she was glad she had contacted the Broker. The Reapers might have succeeded in their harvest and she probably wouldn't have met Shepard much less fall for the human.

The last entry was very short. It detailed the various operations, supply procurements, and the transportation's of pilgrims, she had helped with before the quarians push for Rannoch. Looking back, they could have saved so many people if the other admirals had agreed to Tali's request for outside help. But the others had insisted that this was their people's conflict and outvoted her and Koris.

When she became an admiral, she knew that more people would die and there was nothing she could have done to stop that. She never wanted to lead but she knew that more might have died if someone else had been in charge. It was just like Haestrom, but on a larger scale and with everything on the line. If Shepard had never came, than she and all of her people probably would have died at the hands of the geth. Instead they had regained their homeworld and gained a new ally.

Her mind heavy with those memories, she closed out her dossier and closed her eyes again. Everything she thought of always reminded her of Shepard. Tali scrolled through the files randomly until she stopped. Whether it was intentional or by chance, she found herself looking at Shepard's dossier. With her curiosity overwhelming her sadness, Tali opened the dossier and browsed through its contents. Similar to her dossier, most of the entries seemed rather bland, if informative. The entries included biological information, medical history, military service record, and personal history. Unlike her dossier though, there were several video recordings of Shepard.

Tali felt extremely uneasy with access to such information on Shepard. She had always wanted to know more about the man she had fallen in love with but she respected his privacy and hoped he would eventually tell her himself.

While Shepard was mostly quiet on the matter he did occasionally open up to her, a rare crack in his stoic armor. Those instances were well worth the wait. However she decided to leave Shepard's personal history alone, still clinging to the hope that Shepard was still out there. All she wanted was more time and now she wasn't sure if she would ever have the chance again.

Giving into temptation, Tali opened up his biological history. Like a sponge, her mind absorbed all of the information it could on Shepard. She learned that he was born on April 11, 2154. This embarrassed her a great deal, she had never really known when Shepard was born and it didn't help that she had never seen him celebrating it. Perhaps military life had changed that aspect of his life.

Reading on, Tali learned that Shepard was as close to perfect as a human could be without the use of genetic tailoring and manipulation. There was an article attached to his records of an accident involving the exposure of element zero to humans. She wondered if the incident was actually an accident but pushed the thought aside as she read the details on Shepard's secondary exposure and how his doctors discovered that he had some biotic manifestation but only developing to a certain point despite the doctors declaring him a biotic.

Until now, she had always been completely perplexed about Shepard's biotics. She knew he consumed just about the same amount of calories as some of the biotics they had worked with but she didn't know if he was anything like the others. Perhaps he was more of a combat biotic, relying on his biotics to give his weapons some more punch, it would certainly explain how his weapons tended to produce something akin to a warp blast.

The rest of the file continued to detail the various augmentations he had received during his training as well as a file of Shepard's extensive cybernetics during his "reconstruction" The file came from an agent only known as Wilson.

Having a better grasp on Shepard's history, Tali moved on to the next file. Shepard enlisted at the age of 18 and had began his training under a gunnery chief named Ellison. Tali remembered Shepard telling her about Ellison and how he had at times wanted to quit. She still found it difficult to believe but from what she read in the files and all of the training methods, she began to understand why Shepard would even think of quitting.

Reading on, she learned of Shepard's various assignments as a marine. She took note of his quick rise in rank and his exemplary service. He was involved in dozens of high risk missions and had always completed the job and surprising his superiors. The amounts of medals and commendations he was awarded was more than enough to make any veteran quarian marine jealous. It was no wonder he had been selected as a candidate for the N7 program as soon as he had finished his officer training.

Surprisingly, there wasn't much information on Shepard during his N7 training aside from the fact that his commanding officer was none other than Alexander Shepard. She had never really heard Shepard talk about his father and she knew that they rarely talked with one another. Tali suspected that the Alliance guarded their files on the N7 program carefully. Even with Liara's information network, she couldn't find anything on Shepard's father or what kind of operations they conducted. Aside from that and sparse information on training methods, she learned he had graduated from the program along side a small handful of soldiers.

Tali paused at the next section of Shepard's service record. There was numerous reports on the Skylian Blitz on both the pirates and the Alliance. There was even a after-action report from Shepard, describing the assault and how he and his squad continued to repel pirates from one of the defense guns until he ordered them to leave him in order to take the civilians and the wounded through the emergency tunnels. Shepard had narrowly escaped death with the timely arrival of Alliance reinforcements. His superiors had praised his actions and promoted him and had him reassigned. Tali frowned. The report was just a collection of cold, hard data. It was nothing like Shepard's own account when he had told her after the incident with the batarian invaders on Horizon.

She already knew the rest of Shepard's service record and decided to leave it at that. Tali had gained a better understanding of how much Shepard had changed because of his military career. While her curiosity was somewhat satisfied, she felt her sadness bubbling up again. Tali checked the time and was startled at how late it was. She briefly considered leaving but she decided to check one more item from Shepard's dossier. This time she opened one of the videos.

"_Louis Shepard. Earth."_

The camera was in the corner of the room with an unobstructed view. Tali watched as the door opened with a fuming Shepard walking in accompanied by James.

"_If it means anything commander, I'm pretty sure they're just scared. I mean it sounds crazy and-"_

"_So you think I'm crazy?"_

"_No. No, that's not what I meant. It's easy to understand that they don't want to believe it."_

"_Yeah well believe it or not, the Reaper's are coming and I'm stuck here not able to do a damn thing about it."_

"_I know, I believe in you. Look, I gotta go take care of something. If you need anything just let me know."_

"_Thanks."_

Shepard waited for James to leave before he turned and walked over to the window and looked outside. Tali was about to close the video before she heard Shepard speak again.

"_I wish you were here Tali. I feel so lost without you. Whatever it takes, I'm going to find a way back to you."_

The video ended and Tali wished she hadn't watched it. Without thinking, Tali left the room. She had to find a place to get away from her thoughts.

* * *

The days passed by quickly to Shepard's mind. He was eager to get out of the hospital and get back to work. Dr. Charles had accompanied him to the lobby and took care of the release paper work.

"Thank you for everything Doc." Shepard said as he offered his hand.

"It was my pleasure commander. It's a shame that your leaving. Having you around is a big morale boost for the patients." Charles replied as he shook Shepard's hand.

A small squad of marines stood up from their seats when they saw Shepard in the lobby. All of them snapped off a crisp salute to Shepard, to which Shepard returned the salute.

"Keep up the good work Doc."

"Same for you commander." Charles nodded before leaving to tend to his patients.

Shepard turned back to inspect his guard detail. Each one of them was armed and prepared for combat. Hopefully they wouldn't have to worry about that. One of the marines stepped forward.

"Commander Shepard. I am Lieutenant Schulz. My team and I volunteered to accompany you to Kiel. It's an honor to meet you."

"Good to meet you lieutenant. It'll be an honor having you and your men with me." Shepard replied as they shook hands before continuing, "I want to thank all of you for finding me on the Citadel, I probably would have died if your squad weren't there."

"Just doing our job commander. These are my men, Hammond, Logan, and Jenson." Schulz replied while his men nodded their heads in turn. "Hammond. Where's that shuttle?"

"The shuttle is about ten minutes out, pilot said he was dropping off a few boots in the next district." Hammond spoke as he gestured behind him.

"Might as well get some fresh air. Lets get a move on." Shepard nodded.

Hammond took the lead, while Shulz took his place next to Shepard while Jenson and Logan followed behind them. Shepard took in the destruction caused by all of the fighting outside. It would be years before all the damage could be fixed. But he was hopeful. The men were silent as they scanned the area and made sure it was safe. While there have been no more reports of Reaper forces there have been some looting from desperate survivors.

It wasn't long before they heard the rumble of the shuttle as it approached. The shuttle landed with a thump in front of them and it's hatch opened up with a marine waving his arm for Shepard and the others to get in the shuttle. Together, they all boarded the shuttle and took their seats. Shepard had no idea what to expect next but hopefully he would be able to find a QEC once he was done playing with politics again.

**There you have it folks. I know it was a bit short considering how long it's been since I last posted a new chapter. Hopefully I wont have as many distractions while working on the next chapter. Until then, have a happy and safe new years!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm back! Things have been going crazy for me so unfortunately everything had to be pushed back for PSG until I had some time to work on it. Big round of thanks to everybody who read the last chapter and thank you so much for being patient. I hope you enjoy this one, a lot of work was put into it by myself and my unrelenting editor. Enjoy!**

Chapter Five

Shepard sat in silence with Shulz and his men. The constant sound of the shuttle's thrusters dominated the space. Every now and then the pilot would respond to his radio followed by some chatter from the other end. Shepard had spent most of the shuttle ride with his eyes closed.

He did not relish the idea of playing politician and getting them to play nice together. With the Reapers apparently destroyed, reconstruction could finally begin. Still it should be relatively easier than uniting everyone against the Reapers. The only concern he had was that everyone would try to focus on their own first before sending any help to their allies. All of their hard earned alliances could be easily lost if the talks didn't go well.

He was also curious about the facility they were heading to. He had been to naval base once before during his underwater combat training. Shepard had never thought about how extensive the base actually was. Coats had mentioned that it was a major Alliance communications facility.

Shepard imagined that the base was filled with Alliance brass and a sizable force to maintain its defenses and secrecy. Communication was how the Alliance stayed mobile and this facility must have been a major part of the resistance.

"Commander, can I ask you a question?" Shulz's voice pierced the noise, bringing Shepard out of his thoughts

"Speak freely lieutenant." Shepard nodded his head.

"I'll get straight to it then. What happened up there? On the Citadel I mean."

"Were you and your men part of the last push?"

"No," Shulz said as he recounted his story, "My men and I were pinned near the initial rush to take down the destroyer. An advance force of Reapers were trying to push us back and we were cut off from the battalion. By the time we made it halfway to the target, they had already begun recalling everyone to regroup."

"I see. At least the order saved some of our forces. Nobody made it through the beam except for me and Anderson," Shepard remarked before continuing, "The beam teleported the two of us to the tunnels, but Anderson ended up in a different section."

"Was it the tunnels filled with all of those bodies?" Logan asked as he shifted in his seat.

"Yes. The Reapers were gathering bodies for the keepers. The keepers were probably going to melt them down to form a new Reaper."

Shulz and his men looked at Shepard before shaking their heads. Hammond looked a bit pale at the thought while Jenson and Logan exchanged looks at one another.

"Mein Gott," Shulz muttered in german before reverting back to English, "I.. I just can't believe it."

"Crazy as it may sound, that's how the Reapers create more of their kind. I managed to catch up to Anderson, but the Illusive man was already there waiting for us. He tried to use his reaper implants to control us. Stop us from opening the Citadel." Shepard replied. He deliberately left out the part where he was forced to shoot Anderson.

"We all saw what he did to himself. More monster than human." Jenson muttered. The others agreed with him.

"Everything after that was blurry. I remember opening the Citadel for the crucible. But after that I blacked out several times before I realized I was above the platform." Shepard continued on.

"Is that when you activated the crucible sir?" Hammond asked.

"Yes." Shepard tried not to think about what happened with the A.I. Some of the implications the A.I had claimed were very perplexing. He was still pondering if he had made the right choice. Deep down he knew that he had stayed true to their goal of bringing about the destruction of the Reapers but he wondered what would have happened if he had changed his mind.

"I'm glad that you did what you had to. Everything would have probably ended for us." Shulz replied.

Suddenly remembering, Shulz pulled out his kit and rummaged through his contents until he found what he was looking for.

"I think this belongs to you sir."

Shepard looked up to see Shulz holding up some dog tags. Accepting it from Shulz, Shepard reached out and turned it over in his hand to see Anderson's name.

"Thank you lieutenant." Shepard murmured.

"Of course commander."

Silence once again filled the shuttle. Shepard fiddled with Anderson's tags for a moment before slipping it into his pocket. A few minutes later the pilot called out to everyone, informing them they were almost at their destination. Shulz didn't waste a second and ordered his men to grab their gear.

Shepard got up as well and realized he was unarmed. Logan had noticed this as well and pulled out his sidearm and offered it to Shepard. Thanking the private, Shepard checked the clip and just as quickly holstered it after reloading.

The shuttle door opened and Shepard and the others looked outside. It was getting dark and Shepard could distinctly hear the rumble of thunder approaching. The shuttle had landed on a small concrete pier. They could see the vague shapes of Alliance patrol boats skimming across the water in the distance.

"We'd better get a move on. Storm's coming." Shulz commented as he took point. Shepard nodded and followed behind him while the others covered the rear and kept scanning the area for anything that could be hostile.

The group traveled on in silence, every now and than they would stop to take cover whenever they heard a noise. It always turned out to be an animal sensing their presence before scurrying off. They continued on in this manner for several minutes before Shulz pointed out their destination.

"You seem very familiar with the area lieutenant. You from around here?" Shepard asked as they picked up their pace.

"Yes sir. Use to live in the main city before I joined the Alliance. Did a few rotations of guard duty at the facility we're heading to but I always thought it was just a ship builder base. I was never allowed past the first lower level."

Leaving the main path, Shulz led them to a small bunker hidden by a dense copse of trees. Shepard had a quick flash back of officer he had trained under during his time here. The base had multiple hidden entrances just in case if the main entrance was ever compromised. Shulz pulled the hatch open and waved the team in first before he and Shepard followed. They proceeded down the ramp until they reached a small room that looked like a dead end.

"Wait here and don't make any sudden movements." Shulz instructed as he took a step towards the wall opposite of the ramp.

"Fire will rain from the sky." A muffled voice emanated from behind the wall.

"But we will never fall again." Shulz replied.

There was a pause before a seamless door pulled back revealing several guards aiming their rifles at Shulz. The guards only lowered their weapons after their sergeant finished ascertaining that there was no threat. Once the guards confirmed their identities they were allowed to enter. The entrance was than sealed behind them and one of the guards activated an energy barrier to shield the door. Two of the guards escorted Shepard and his guard detail to a corridor with multiple access elevators.

"Take access elevator number seven to the bottom and proceed to security checkpoint fifty-seven." One of the guards instructed as he placed a palm on the biometric scan to activate the elevator.

Shepard nodded and entered with Shulz and his men taking their place in between him and the door. The elevator descended rapidly. Each level they passed was secured by a thick blast door. Shepard also noticed the hidden slide compartments for anti-personnel gun turrets covering the doors. He wondered what else the Alliance was guarding that warranted the secrecy and defenses but for now he pushed the thought aside.

The elevator slowed down and the doors slid apart revealing a narrow corridor lined with biometric scans and more concealed turrets. An unseen PA system crackled and a proper feminine voice informed them to proceed through the corridor in a single file line towards the checkpoint.

Doing as they were told, Shulz and his men proceeded ahead in a single file with Shepard following behind them. Looking ahead of the others, Shepard could see the checkpoint as well as the guards that were assigned to it.

Even from a distance, Shepard could see that they were well armed and that the corridor would have made a deadly kill zone if they base was ever breached. Shepard even thought that all the defenses could have possibly rivaled that of the Tower in Rio.

The men that were assigned to the checkpoint quickly verified Shepard's identity and motioned for Shulz and his men to remain at the checkpoint.

"Commander, they are expecting you. Your escort will have to stay here." One of the guards informed him.

"I understand." Shepard nodded and waited for the doors to open before continuing on alone.

The first thing Shepard noticed was the panel of Alliance officials. There were twelve members present. He immediately recognized several high ranking officers, including both generals and admirals. The other members bore no signs of identification and Shepard suspected that they were spooks that were on loan from various intelligence branches.

"Commander Shepard." One of generals spoke as he stood up from his seat. Shepard instinctively saluted.

"At ease Commander. I am General Herman. Let me introduce you to General Ambrose, Rear Admiral Xua, and Rear Admiral Silvia. I'd introduce the others to you but that would be a waste of time due to the nature of their work." Herman spoke in a strong tone as he introduced the other members. His tone did not match his age and injuries, the General must have been the kind of leader who led from the front.

"I'm sure that you understand why you are here." Admiral Silvia spoke quietly as she set her data pad down.

"Of course Admiral, I was told that I am here to help with the diplomatic process." Shepard replied.

"You are partially correct. We are also hoping for a possible course of action from you," Admiral Xua supplied as he tapped a button to display a holo of the system and the current positions of their ships, "We have already finished assessing the situation here on Earth and our preliminary recons of the rest of the system with the few Argo scout ships we have left. There are no signs of Reaper activity left in the entire system. All that's left are the derelicts."

Shepard gave a sigh of relief at the news. The Reapers were finally gone. After all the years of fighting and loss, they had finally won. Shepard felt as if a colossal burden had finally been taken off of his back.

"Unfortunately, both the Citadel and the mass relay are heavily damaged. This has effectively cut us off from the galaxy." Xua explained as he pulled up the damage reports from the scout ships.

"How bad is it admiral?"

"The citadel sustained major damages after the crucible activated. Many of the wards are down with only pockets of functionality. Tayseri ward was almost completely destroyed and only a few sections of it remains. The presidium is still relatively intact but all our attempts to reactivate central power have failed and auxiliary power is still shaky. Right now we're focusing on rescue efforts. From what we can tell, it will take decades to get the citadel functioning properly again."

"I see. What about the relay then?"

"The relay's jump mechanisms were heavily damaged, all of the pieces of the relay has been marked by our scouts. The relay network was most likely overloaded with energy from the crucible. Our knowledge on its exact construction and power requirements is limited. Getting the relay operational again will be a massive undertaking." Silvia replied as she pulled up an image of the relay.

"Commander," Ambrose began as he mulled over his next words, "You have the most experience in dealing with the Reapers. You know how they operate and how their technology works. If you were in my position, what would you do?"

Shepard was silent as he thought about what he would have done. There wasn't many options for them.

"For now, I think that we're doing the right thing and we should continue with the rescue effort. We need to get as many of the survivors off of the citadel. We have to consolidate whoever is left before we can move on to reconstruction efforts. The more people we can get to help the better. The other thing we should do is contact the other species and see if they are dealing with the same thing as we are. Maybe there is a way to repair the relay." Shepard spoke the entire panel taking the time to see how they would react.

Xua and Silvia nodded while Ambrose looked more assured about what course of action they should take. Shepard waited as the officers deliberated with their liaisons before dismissing them.

"Thank you for your input Shepard. I'm not gonna sugar coat this, we really needed to hear it from somebody else." Ambrose explained as soon as the doors closed behind the spooks.

"On to the next set of business. Shepard you are here to assist in the diplomatic process. We would have had someone else do it but to be frank none of them have the pull you have. Our men are gathering any leaders currently on Earth while we try to get a hold of any functioning government in the galaxy. Until then you and your escort will be taken to the west wing. Get a hot meal and relax, that's an order. Any questions?" Herman addressed Shepard as he pulled up a display of the galaxy with only a few lines of communications still active.

"General, is there any way I can have access to a QEC? I want to contact my crew." Shepard replied. At the same time his mind was turning against him and telling him the odds of hearing from his crew again was slim. Shaking his head slightly he pushed it aside.

"Of course commander. I understand completely. You'll have your clearance but you will have to wait until after the meeting. Getting a connection to the other worlds have been near impossible. I'm sorry." Herman nodded in understanding. Herman and the others understood Shepard's intention completely. Being kept in the dark about one's men could easily torture the best of leaders.

"I understand general. Thank you." Shepard saluted. Herman and the others returned the salute before returning to their deliberation.

Shepard made his way back outside. The guard gave him a quick salute and motioned for Shepard and his escort to follow. Shepard was impressed with the layout of the base. The personnel seemed well trained and disciplined showing the same degree of professionalism as the MP's from Rio. The defenses only augmented this even further. It was no wonder how the facility had managed to escape Reaper detection. After passing through a few more blast doors the guard informed them they would be called when the meeting was arranged before returning to his post.

The west wing itself appeared to be the living quarters for the facility personnel, complete with a cafeteria, barracks, recreational activities and combat sim rooms. All of this reminded Shepard of his days back at the villa during training. Aside from Shepard and the others, the only people that were there was a few guards having a meal and the chef. With little else to do, Shepard decided to grab something to eat.

"So how did it go in there commander?" Shulz asked as he and his men stepped into line behind Shepard.

"Good, all things considered. They wanted my input before they gather everyone for the meeting. Until then we can relax." Shepard replied as he thanked the chef for the soup and the warm bread.

"Best news I've heard since we won." Shulz grinned as he joined Shepard at an empty table.

Shepard had to agree with Shulz with that. It had felt like an eternity of fighting the Reapers as well as everything that had gotten in their way. Even with the sporadic breaks between missions and shore leaves, there were always reminders of it.

Logan and Jenson finished their meals first and decided to explore the rest of the wing. Hammond and Shulz remained at the table with Shepard where they began trading stories.

"So there we were at the port, trying to evacuate the few civilians that made it when some of those harvesters flew in and started bombarding us. Jenson and Logan were pulling the wounded into the med-evac shuttles while I covered them from all of the husks pouring in through the gates. Next thing I know, LT is just screaming at the top of his lungs. I turn around thinking that the Reapers were flanking us but it turns out that he had hopped into the turret of our cobra jeep and was letting loose on the harvesters."

"Really? What happened after that?" Shepard asked he watch Shulz shaking his head while chuckling.

"The whole time he was on the gun he was just screaming in german. Couldn't understand a word he said. He blew up one of harvesters and brought another one down to the ground where it exploded right behind all of the Reaper troops. Took all of them out like that. Don't know if Reapers could feel afraid or not but the rest of the harvesters just booked it out of the area. LT saved all of our asses." Hammond recounted the story with enthusiasm, making explosion noises every now and than.

"That's impressive lieutenant. Not many people can keep their cool or in this case lose it in a situation like that." Shepard laughed with Hammond at the expense of the lieutenant.

"I was just doing what it took to make sure I got the civvies and my squad out of there." Shulz replied in a modest tone as he leaned back in his chair, "Besides, you've done things that soldiers like me could never compare to."

"Well that may be but I had help all along the way." Shepard pointed out.

"True but there were times you were on your own against the impossible. Your actions in the blitz being a prominent example."

"Yeah, even for N7 that is some crazy odds." Hammond agreed.

"I'll admit that I got extremely lucky there. The batarians could have killed me and taken Elysium's defenses. I don't even want to think about what they would have done with the rest of my squad and the people we were protecting. If the reinforcements arrived later than they did, things would have been different."

Shulz took the hint and nodded for Hammond to drop the conversation. He had noticed the shift in Shepard's demeanor when he mentioned his squad.

"So what are your plans now lieutenant?" Shepard asked suddenly.

"I don't know really. We volunteered to help you for the duration of your assignment but I haven't really thought about after that. Maybe look for my family if they are still out there."

"Big family?"

"No. Most of them were already dead before the Reapers hit us. Natural causes. Just want to find my wife and daughter."

"Of course. I understand."

"What about you commander? Any family?"

"My mother, father and a younger sister. Last time I heard from my mother was while my crew and I had some shore leave on the citadel, she was with Hackett's fleet guarding the crucible. Haven't spoken to my father since after the blitz. I lost track of my sister when the Reapers invaded."

"I'm sure that they are fine commander." Shulz tried to reassure Shepard. He had noticed the commander look away involuntarily when he mentioned his crew.

Feeling tired, Shepard excused himself from the table and decided to get some rest. Shepard made his way to the room that had been provided for him. Logan and Jenson were making some small talk with a few of the personnel nearby and nodded when they saw the commander. Shepard nodded in return and closed the door behind him.

Despite the relatively large room, it was very bare. The walls were unadorned giving the off the sense of how militaristic the facility could be. A standard-sized bed was nestled in between a desk and a empty shelf that was probably used to store any personal effects.

There was a small bathroom, complete with a shower and basic necessities for hygiene. He found a new set of fatigues that was neatly folded and set aside for him along with a note informing him that anything else he required would be delivered as soon as possible.

The room looked like it was the quarters for the wing officer but seemed to have not been used for months. Shepard noticed that the room had been recently cleaned, probably to accommodate his stay for the talks. He felt somewhat guilty about having the room, he wouldn't have minded bunking with others in the barracks but it was probably for security reasons. There was no point in bothering the staff for anything, Shepard could get by on what he had.

He was surprised by how much he had sounded like Tali. It was amusing that she had taken on some of his traits while he had gained some of hers. Sitting on the edge of the bed Shepard turned his omni-tool on and brought up a picture of Tali.

He had taken the chance to copy the holo that Tali had given him after she had rejoined the Normandy. Shepard couldn't explain why but he just wanted to make sure that he had it no matter what happened. He continued to gaze at the image while his head started to spin.

_'This is what Tali probably felt like when I was gone those two years.'_ Shepard thought to himself as his emotions rebelled against him. This was worse than the times he wondered what she was doing while the Alliance kept him on Earth. At least he knew she was back with the fleet back than but now he had no idea what happened to her. Shaking his head again, he pushed his emotions back in line. Closing his eyes, Shepard laid down and tried to calm down. He knew that Tali and the rest of his crew was still out there, they had to be.

* * *

"How did she get pass everyone?" Garrus asked. Most of the crew were gathered in the mess waiting for EDI's explanation.

"Tali knew where my blind spots were and she avoided detection by temporarily disabling any security device during her escape. My sensors however detected that she stopped in the cargo bay before leaving through one of the maintenance hatches. I do not know where she may have gone."

"I should have stayed with her. It was a mistake to have left her in the condition she was in." Liara said quietly as she rubbed her temple with palm of her hand.

"Don't blame yourself Liara. Everyone's tired. Any idea what she was doing before all of this." Ashley comforted Liara.

"She had been drinking heavily before I found her in the lounge. I had invited her to my cabin until she was sober but I was called away to help Traynor. Glyph informed me that Tali had accessed various dossiers that I have compiled. One of them was Shepard's."

"Makes sense that she would be upset." James said as he jogged into the mess, "I just checked the weapons lockers. Everything is there except her pistol."

"That settles it then. EDI, I need you to inform the rest of the crew to be on the look out for Tali in case she comes back. Keep in contact with them at all times, we could use the extra help. We will split up into teams and search the surrounding area. Javik, Ashley, you two know the area better so you'll be leading the teams.

Once everybody had gathered their gear, Garrus pulled up a rough map of the area for everyone to examine.

"EDI, How long has it been since Tali went missing?" Garrus queried.

"Exactly twenty minutes. By my calculations she couldn't have gotten further than this ridge." EDI responded promptly as she traced a line and crossed off a large swath of the map.

"Right. We'd better move quickly than. Ashley, take James and Liara through the forest here and head to the cliffs. If she isn't there than make your way towards the waterfall. Javik, EDI and I will head in the opposite direction towards the mountain and follow the river to the lake."

"Sound's good to me. Lets get moving. Radio check every five minutes?" Ashley nodded.

"Good idea." Garrus replied as he motioned for Javik to take the lead. He hoped that Javik's talent for tracking would lead them to Tali in time.

**Well that's all for this chapter. Again I apologize for the long wait. The finishing touches for the next chapter is in the works right now. Thanks for reading and I will see you in the next one!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Well hello there! Like I said here it is. Things are crazy as usual and I'm glad to work on some morePSG. Also a few of you have asked me if I will continue to add to TFB. As of right now I have no plans for adding more chapters to it but I might get back to it eventually. Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter Six

"Tali! Where are you?" Garrus shouted as he pushed through the brush.

EDI followed closely behind Garrus, scanning the surrounding area with her omni-tool. They entered another empty clearing similar to some of those they already cut through. There was no sign of Tali so far but Javik assured them that Tali had gone in the direction they were heading. Garrus had just gotten off the radio and told the others to loop around and head in their direction just in case if Tali decided to turn around.

"We must hurry. She was here not long ago but her despair is beginning to overwhelm her." Javik informed them as he stood up and brushed his hands on his armor.

"That doesn't sound good. Lets pick up the pace." Garrus as he motioned for Javik to move ahead.

They moved at a brisk pace, keeping an eye on their surroundings. This was as far as Garrus had ever gone when he pulled patrol duty so he had to rely on Javik's tracking skills.

"EDI, any word from the Normandy?"

"No sign of her reported. She is probably still moving further in through the jungle towards the lake. I will inform you if anything changes."

Garrus swore silently to himself and hoped that Tali kept a level head until they found her.

Tali ducked underneath a branch as she traveled deeper through the brush. She had never left the perimeter since the Normandy made the emergency landing on the planet. Still she didn't care anymore. She just wanted to get away from everything just so the memories wouldn't taunt her anymore.

It had worked at first. After she had taken her pistol and avoided the marines on watch, she just picked a random direction and kept moving. Once she was confident nobody was following, she began running without as much of a backwards glance. All the running kept her from thinking. She stopped every now and than to rest but as soon as she caught her breath she was back at it.

Tali eventually found what she was looking for. She had stumbled across a small lake surrounded by the dense vegetation. She slowly walked around the edge of the lake until she found a spot clear of rocks and broken branches. Sitting down, she took a moment to appreciate the quiet. Peering into the clear water, she could vaguely see the bottom with the indigenous marine life swimming about.

She probably would have been more interested in the planet and its still growing life if it weren't for the fact they were stranded here.

"Whats the point of all of this?" Tali spoke to herself.

Her mind began to do the devils work once more. What if they couldn't get the Normandy in ship shape again? What if the crucible didn't work like they thought it would? Worst of all, what if there was nobody out there? The last thought haunted her the most.

Hands shaking, she pulled out her pistol and placed it in her lap. She stared down at her weapon for several minutes contemplating about what she was about to do. This hadn't been the first time Tali had considered this.

There had been several times she tried to do it while preparing for pilgrimage. Her father had been very strict and made life unbearable at times despite being the daughter of an admiral. But each time she thought about it she was too afraid of what might happen.

The most recent however was after she had finished her pilgrimage. While the flotilla had welcomed Tali and her gift with open arms, she was distraught over the loss of the Normandy and the apparent death of Shepard. But something had kept her going.

Now it seemed like everything became hopeless, and this time Shepard wasn't there. Looking up briefly, she thought she saw Shepard standing on the other side of the lake beckoning for her. Taking a deep breath, she looked back down at her pistol and checked the clip. It was still full, more than enough for what she needed.

Tali disabled her shield hesitantly. With shaking hands she slowly raised the gun to the side of her head.

"I'm coming Louis." Tali whispered to herself as her finger tensed on the trigger.

The gunshot rang clear in the silence. Tali opened her eyes expecting the world to slowly fade in to blackness but it did not come. She than realized that she couldn't move. Her arm had been turned away and she had shot the ground.

"Tali!" A voice shouted out as she realized it was Garrus.

Her pistol was quickly yanked away. Feeling returned to her body and she nearly collapsed before she caught herself. Turning her head slightly she saw that it was Javik who had stopped her. His hand was outstretched and glowed with energy.

"Quickly! Restrain her before she does anything else!" Javik commanded. EDI moved instantly and retrieved Tali's pistol.

Garrus quickly lifted Tali to her feet and shook her roughly, "What the hell were you thinking Tali?!"

Tali didn't reply and only shook her head before sobbing quietly to herself. She tried to pull away from Garrus but his grip was unrelenting.

"EDI, disable Tali's omni-tool for now. Can't risk anything." Garrus quickly shot a glance to EDI.

"It's done. I've already alerted the Normandy that we've found her."

Javik strode over and stared at the lake for a moment before looking back at Tali.

"That was very foolish of you." He said in a detached manner.

"Javik this isn't the time for this!" Garrus snapped. He was already on edge enough.

Javik merely ignored Garrus and stared at Tali before speaking again, "Have faith, your cycle has not been lost like mine. He may be out there."

Garrus was somewhat shocked that Javik was actually positive about something for once. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ashley and the others running towards them.

"Javik. Keep an eye on her." Garrus said without waiting for a response. He let go of Tali and made sure she didn't end up falling over. Garrus quickly jogged towards the others to meet them halfway.

"What happened? We heard a gunshot?" James asked.

"Tali almost shot herself. Javik stopped her in time." Garrus quickly explained.

Relief filled the others at the close call. Looking back over his shoulder, Garrus saw Javik talking with Tali. He couldn't make out what Javik was saying but whatever it was Tali nodded. Hopefully this new side Javik had unveiled would last until everything was relatively back to normal.

"Goddess. What we do now?" Liara asked as she watched the exchange with Garrus.

"I think its pretty obvious," Ashley replied before continuing, "We gotta keep Tali under watch. I don't like it but we gotta do whats best for her right now."

"Agreed. For now I want you, Liara and EDI to keep an eye on her. We'll work out a rotation later." Garrus nodded.

The four of them returned to Javik and EDI and told them what was going to happen. Tali only nodded and bowed her head in submission.

"Tali this isn't personal. We're only doing this for your own good." Ashley comforted her friend. Things between them had never always been smooth but Ashley hoped that things could be like the old days when they all first met each other.

"Thank you." Tali replied quietly.

"Come on. Everyone is having a rough day. You need to get some rest Tali. We all do." Liara said as she looked around and nodded to everyone.

With the situation taken care of, they oriented themselves back in the direction of the Normandy. Everyone kept an eye on Tali though. They still didn't know if Tali had completely calmed down.

* * *

Shepard was floating. He found himself in an endless sea of fog. He tried to move but was unable to. His body began to move on its own accord and oriented itself to thickset portion of the fog. The fog began to part and he could see Tali looking off in the distance but at what he had no idea.

Shepard tried calling out to her but he couldn't hear himself. He tried several more times until his lungs began to ache as if he were in a low oxygen environment. As if the force that held his body disappeared, he collapsed to the ground. Shepard pushed himself back up. As he was trying to catch his breath he saw Tali moving off in the direction she had been staring at intently.

Forcing himself to stand, he broke into a run and tried to catch up with Tali. He continued in this manner for several minutes but it seemed like the more he ran the further she moved away from him. Panting heavily, Shepard yelled once more hoping that she would hear him. Somehow Tali must have heard him and stopped in her tracks to turn around to gaze at him.

Shepard reached out to her, feeling a sense of relief. Relief was quickly replaced with horror as Shepard saw a crack on Tali's visor. The crack continued to spread from her visor to the rest of her body. He watched in horror as Tali shattered into hundreds of pieces before breaking into screams of anguish.

Shepard bolted upright. Breathing hard and covered in sweat, he checked his surroundings in attempt to calm down. Checking the time, he realized he had only been asleep for an hour. Shepard made his way to the bathroom and quickly waved his hand for the water to turn on. Making sure the water was cold, Shepard splashed his face several times.

_'It was just a nightmare. That's all it was. Your still here and Tali will be alright.'_ Shepard kept repeating the thought in his head as he splashed more water onto his face.

Struggling to collect himself, Shepard snatched up a towel and began drying his face off before the sound of knocking caught his attention.

"Commander? The meeting is almost ready, your presence is needed." A faint voice wafted through the door.

"I'll be there in a moment." Shepard replied as he grabbed a fresh set of fatigues.

After making sure he looked presentable, Shepard stepped back into the corridor. Shulz and his men were already waiting for him. They looked relaxed but had opted to hold on to their sidearms.

"Commander. I have been instructed to take you to the meeting room. Your guards may also accompany you if you wish."

"Thank you, lead the way." Shepard replied as he nodded for the others to follow along.

"Are you alright commander? You look like your on edge." Jenson asked.

"I'm fine. Just thinking about the meeting." Shepard partially lied.

Unlike before, their guide led them to a different section of the wing where they went through another scan before the walls pulled apart. They continued down the new hallway until they reached another guard post. This one was heavily guarded with almost a full platoon with top of the line weaponry and armor. The guards quickly scanned them and pulled the doors open before ushering Shepard and the others inside.

The room was well lit and had been built in a fashion similar to the war room on the Normandy with the exception of the large circular table surrounding the display. Behind the table was a ring of QEC's intended for the purpose of a mass meeting with multiple leaders. Shepard spotted the Generals and Admirals already standing at the table waiting for everybody to be gathered. Other doors opened around the chamber as more of the meetings participants arrived. Shepard expected that this was all they could gather within the system.

The door behind him slid open followed by the sounds of heavy foot steps.

"Shepard!" A deep voice boomed.

Turning around, Shepard immediately saw Wrex making his way towards him. Shepard reacted by shaking Wrex's hand vigorously.

"Wrex! Good to see you!" Shepard replied while grinning like a child.

"Ha! Should have known that you survived whatever happened up there on the Crucible. If I weren't so sure that you were a human, I'd mistake you for a deformed krogan!" Wrex laughed before gesturing to the other leaders, "I see they got you to mess with politics again huh? Even have guards to keep an eye on you I see."

"Someone has to do it. Might as well be me. Shulz and his men volunteered for this. I'll take all the help I can get." Shepard nodded.

"Sir, you know this krogan?" Shulz asked with a firm face. Even a soldier like Shulz was hesitant about dealing with a krogan like Wrex.

"Me and Shepard go way back. Ah chasing Saren around the galaxy, blowing up geth, dealing with Shepard's driving. Good times. Well everything except the driving. Hell he'd put all of our Tomkah's out of commission if he got his hands on them." Wrex laughed again as he reminisced.

"I still don't know what all of you complained about. I'm not that bad at driving am I?" Shepard said defensively before growing serious. "So are you ready for this meeting Wrex?"

"Sure hope so. Things were going smoothly with the council when I last talked to them. This could be our chance to make things right again for my people." Wrex shifted his armor into a more comfortable manner.

"Your people have gone through enough. I'm glad that things are looking up for the krogan. How's Bakara doing by the way?"

"Last I heard she was done uniting the clans. Those who stayed back on Tuchanka were busy organizing settlements so that we they can get to work on clearing some of the rubble for a new city. To top it all off, I'm gonna be a father of all things. It's all thanks to you Shepard." Wrex grinned.

"It will be odd seeing you as a caring figure. Think you can handle it?"Shepard joked.

"I'll be a better one than my father that's for sure. Don't know if its a boy or girl though. Waiting around here without knowing is killing me." Wrex gestured to the room.

"Well I'm sure you'll find out soon. Your not the only one who's wondering whats going on out there." Shepard nodded. Wrex took the hint and nodded as well.

The two of them watched as more people were brought in. The council was one of the first they noticed. Shepard hoped that with recent events they would be able to move things along faster than they use to. Accompanying the council was Primarch Victus, Kirrahe, and surprisingly, Aria of all people. Hidden behind them was a lone batarian. The batarian happened to notice that Shepard and Wrex were looking in his direction and proceeded to stride over to them.

"Excuse me. Are you commander Shepard?" the batarian asked.

"Yes. And you are?"

"My apologies, I am governor Pazness. Your recovery and rescue team found me on Cholis. I wanted to thank you for rescuing me seeing that I never got the chance." Pazness extended his hand.

"Don't mention it governor. We're lucky that we heard your distress call." Shepard replied as he shook Pazness's hand.

"Regardless, your actions have shown me that my view of humanity and the rest of the galaxy were skewed to say the least. Some humans may have left me to die. You however sent a team at great risk for my sake. While your involvement in the destruction of the alpha relay have understandably generated mistrust and hatred, the things that humanity and the other races have done for our refugees have changed more than one heart."

"That's good to hear governor. The galactic community could use more allies. I'm sure that we can work together despite past history." Shepard inclined his head and smiled.

He hoped that it would be true. He always gave people a chance unless he knew for certain that something was wrong. The batarians under the Hegemony only saw what their biased leaders wanted them to see.

"Attention everyone. The meeting is about to start. Please take your spots at the table." General Herman announced in a booming voice.

"Good luck to you commander. Even if things don't go the way we intend, know that I will do what I can to help you."

"Thank you governor."

Pazness nodded before taking his spot by Aria. Wrex also excused himself and took his spot by Victus. Herman beckoned for Shepard to take the spot next to him.

"Synchronizing QEC channels." One of the technicians called out. One by one the QEC's activated.

The first pair of QEC's activated, projecting an image of Admiral Hackett and a middle aged scientist with thinning gray hair. Shepard, the generals, and the admirals snapped off crisp salutes before Hackett returned it.

"Admiral Hackett sir. It's good to see you again." General Herman spoke up.

"Likewise. It's damn good to see that there is someone out there," Hackett said before addressing Shepard, "Commander. I knew you would pull through for all of us. I had my doubts but you've proven me wrong."

"Thank you, sir." Shepard replied.

"This is Doctor Lok. He was the one who worked the most with the rachni and has volunteered to speak on their behalf." Hackett introduced. Doctor Lok nodded his head but kept silent for now.

"What's your status Herman?" Hackett asked as he turned back to the general.

"Stable enough. We are still going about S&R procedures while establishing supply lines and refugee camps. We are still waiting for a few more people to join the meeting."

Hackett placed a hand on his chin and nodded. It wasn't long before the communications technicians called out again as they worked to keep the communication lines open. The next QEC activated next to Kirrahe and Valern. It turned out to be Dalatrass Linron. Linron looked uncomfortable as she looked around at the participants. Her insepctions stopped as soon as she saw Wrex. She glared at him and refused to acknowledge any greetings directed towards her.

The last pair of QEC's soon followed and revealed admiral Raan and a geth prime unit. Shepard immediately nodded to Raan while at the same time fighting the self doubt within himself. Raan returned the gesture.

The lead technician signaled to Herman that everything was in place and that they could finally proceed.

Herman cleared his throat again before addressing everyone, "Thank you for coming. I know that we are all busy trying to make sense of the situation but it is important that we establish a plan for all of us to undertake together."

The majority of the congregation nodded and murmured in agreement with only a few saying nothing. Herman nodded for Hackett to take the lead.

"Thank you general. As you all know, the mass relay network has been effectively crippled, leaving all of us stranded. Whats left of both sword and shield fleets are currently located at Arcturus." Hackett paused as he looked at everyone individually.

"We don't know how we are gonna get back. FTL drives can only get us so far. But we are going to find a way. Therefore I am going to ask all of you this; does anyone have an idea of what we are going to do?"

"I have a suggestion." The prime spoke.

"Correct me if I am wrong, after the events on Rannoch the geth were able to function independent to one another. What should we refer to you as?" Hackett nodded.

"Correct. Commander Shepard was the one who decided that the geth should be given chance. The one we referred to as Legion sacrificed itself for us. You may refer to me as Sentinel as I now look over my people as well as the quarians." Sentinel quickly surmised.

"With the help of the quarians, the geth have been able to study the technology left from the destroyer. Within it we have found numerous schematics on the mass relays as well as the Citadel. Their exact construction methods, power needs, and function are all listed. If provided with enough materials and time, we can reconstruct the relays and reestablish the network and eventually the Citadel." Sentinel outlined as it projected the schematics onto the central display as well as calculations of the amount element zero needed to power the relays.

"That would be a massive undertaking. However I see no other way we can accomplish this goal." Silva replied while biting her lower lip.

"We should worry about the relays before we begin discussing reconstruction of the Citadel. Where will we get all of the Eezo necessary for this colossal task?" Xua asked as he crossed his arm.

"That's very simple admiral," Raan spoke up. "The Reapers cores are filled with massive amounts of element zero. As for repairing the relays, it would only be a manner of locating the parts that broke off from the relays as well as constructing replacements for those that we need. That should get us somewhere."

"If I may add to the conversation. The rachni have communicated with me that they are very adept at identifying components that belong to the mass relays. Apparently after the queen was liberated from Reaper imprisonment, she deliberately ordered rachni ships to many remote secondary relays in an attempt to keep the Reapers from pinpointing the queen's location. Due to their nature, they they can easily retrieve any debris for the damaged relays and begin repairing those as we focus on the primary relays." Doctor Lok suggested.

"Admiral Hackett. Before we made the push to take back Earth, you said that the Reaper's were present in almost every major relay junction right?" Shepard asked.

"Yes they did. There were also reports of token forces guarding secondary relays to make it difficult for us to have an exit strategy."

"Then we can use that to our advantage. The Reaper derelict I boarded once had a massive functioning drive core. From what I can see, all of the Reapers have either been destroyed or reduced to non function derelicts. We have plenty of Eezo to draw upon in each system. We could probably use parts from the derelicts themselves if needed." Shepard proposed.

"This could work. Now we just need to get the word out to as many worlds as we can. Counselors I believe that you can help make this happen." Hackett nodded.

Everyone in the room agreed that was the best course of action. Everything was starting to come together. It was still a huge problem but they knew that it would be possible to repair the relays and getting them to function again.

There were still some hesitations especially when the conversation turned to using materials from the Reapers themselves.

"Salvaging Reaper tech could still be dangerous. We still don't know if the derelicts are capable of indoctrination. According to Shepard, the derelict he boarded was still capable of indoctrinating the Cerberus team stationed on it." Valern pointed out.

"It would be best if we were to use remote methods for salvage before we determine if its safe. Drones and mechs would be the best for this as well as anything that could resist indoctrination. We had similar precautions when we were incorporating the Reaper Heart into the Crucible." Doctor Lok recommended.

"It's settled than," Hackett nodded before continuing, "Repairs of the primary relays will have top priority from all of us. By establishing a link to all of the home worlds and key clusters we can open up supply lines. It'll take months perhaps but its faster than anything else right now. Doctor Lok, I want you to coordinate with the rachni and see if they can tell us which systems they are in."

Doctor Lok agreed and spoke to something out of sight before turning his attention back to the meeting.

"Admiral. The geth can aid the rachni in this. As we are not limited like organics, we can send ships to remote relays and begin work there as well. While it will take time for them to reach their destinations, our ships can travel at speeds above the norm." Sentinel offered.

"See to it Sentinel. Everything counts." Hackett nodded.

The conversation slowly moved away from the relays reconstruction. Arguments flared up several times as to what they should do with the Citadel. There was still no idea of how to get the Citadel back to the Serpent nebula and reconstruction would take years if not decades. It was soon decided that the Citadel would be assigned to several skeleton crews who would aid the keepers in a slow process of getting the Citadel back into working order before an official reconstruction effort went into effect.

The council eventually took over the meeting and began the diplomatic talks. With the lack of an official human counselor, all decisions were made by Hackett in the interest of humanity. It soon shifted to the topics of what the other races should do and if they were wiling to contribute.

"I have already spoken with the Hanar and Elcor diplomats and they have already pledged that they will provide whatever they can. The only problem is that they are also isolated until we can open up a path to their home worlds." Tevos sighed.

"The volus have also promised the same. Whats left of Irune is putting its manufacturing capabilities back together in preparation of sending out supplies." Sparatus added. So far they had all the support they could want but it was all dependent on how long until the relays were functional again.

"Palaven was in bad shape the last time I heard from my men. Even though we desperately need help we will spare what we can to help everyone else. We need to find somewhere that has an abundance of resources and supplies." Victus remarked as he projected the last damage report he had received.

"What about the Terminus systems? Is there anyway we can get support from them?" Valern asked as he directed his question to Aria. To his credit, Valern barely flinched as Aria shot him a glare.

"So the council wants my help too? Well if it wasn't for the relays I'd say maybe." Aria snorted derisively.

"Aria, you need our help just as much as we need yours. Can we count on you once Omega is accessible again?" Shepard asked.

Aria grudgingly nodded before speaking again. "You'll get your help. The Blue Suns, Blood Pack and Eclipse will help with what you need. Plenty of manpower, supplies and technical know-how. But only because you helped me get rid of Cerberus on Omega. I got a few conditions though."

"Name them." Ambrose replied bluntly.

"One, the terminus systems are allowed to maintain themselves without much interference from council space, in short just a little bit better than before the Reapers invaded. Two, I'll keep a tighter leash on our pirates in return that we can come to agreements on certain things I might need. And three, if anything like another Cerberus take over happens again, I want your word that you will send whatever it takes to kick them out." Aria demanded.

The counselors and Hackett deliberated amongst themselves before turning back to Aria.

"We'll go over the details with you later Aria, but for now we accept your conditions. Although there will be some changes and your going to have to be flexible about it." Sparatus responded.

"Sure, whatever it takes to keep you off my back. Getting sick of being stuck in council space." Aria rolled her eyes.

"Both the geth and quarians have already started on repairs of the relay in our system. You may count on our full support when we can link our systems back up." Raan declared while sentinel nodded the affirmative.

"Thank you, both of you. Silvia, Xua I want the two of you to handle the relays and coordinate with the others on deciding which relays to focus on after the primary relays are repaird. Herman, Ambrose I want you to continue opening up more supply lines and setting up refugee centers. Focus on providing defense for the refugees." Hackett nodded to Raan and Sentinel before turning to the Alliance brass and assigning them their tasks.

"Yes Admiral." All four of them responded immediately.

"Admiral Hackett? If it's alright with you I would like to pledge complete support from whats left of my people. We may have lost our homes but we want to do whatever it takes to help the galaxy stand strong again but hopefully with my people to be proudly apart of it." Pazness spoke. Shepard could see how the governor was such an effective leader. His words rang out with genuine passion and confidence.

"Governor Pazness correct? We could definitely use any help we can get. What about the other batarian leaders though, like Balak?" Hackett addressed. His tone was controlled but Hackett has been around long enough that being suspicious of Batarians was like second nature.

"The hegemony is no more. Whats left of it was largely wiped out during your push for Earth. As for Balak he has to answer for his crimes both against your people and my own. I intend to form a new government and hopefully we can reintegrate into the galactic community."

"The batarians have been cooperating and many of their special forces have been providing intel and support in ground missons. We look forward to working with you more closely governor." Tevos gave a quick glance at the other members of the council.

"Thank you. Thank you counselor, you have no idea what that means for my people. You won't regret it." Pazness smiled. It was a rare thing to see a batarian smiling.

"You've all gone mad!" Linron shouted. The whole time the dalatrass had been watching the meeting never saying a word. While Shepard understood she was just set in her ways, he did not like how she wanted to manipulate things in her favor.

"Trusting rachni, allowing the geth to work with us, batarians reintegrating into the community?! Worse of all krogans with no genophage to hold them back!" Linron continued with her outburst.

"Dalatrass times are changing. You need to accept it." Victus responded in a firm tone.

"Well don't expect me to be sending any help from Sur'kesh. I'll not help the likes of these lesser races." Linron snapped.

"What are you trying to say? That my people didn't pull you out of the fire during the rachni war? My people were more than willing to take the fight to the Reapers while good people like this salarian had to go behind your back to help!" Wrex countered while gesturing to Kirrahe.

"You! You circumvented my orders!" Linron pointed at Kirrahe accusingly.

"I merely did what I was trained to do dalatrass. I'm a soldier, not a babysitter for polticians. If it means going behind your back to support our allies, than I'll gladly do it." Kirrahe responded dryly. It was clear to everybody that the dalatrass was not popular with the military.

"Dalatrass, your out of touch. The galaxy as you knew it no longer exists. The rachni, geth, batrarians and krogans are going to have a bigger role in the galaxy." Valern asserted.

"So you would trust mindless rachni, synthetics, slavers and brutes?"

"They may have a checkered history but I am willing to trust them in light of recent events and their contributions." Sparatus raised his chin to the others.

"Dalatrass you are being unreasonable. We must support each other in times of great difficulty." Tevos added to the conversation.

Linron became silent. She shook her head as if she were having a bad dream.

"Whats it gonna be dalatrass? No matter what you decide, everyone else is working together." Shepard crossed his arm.

"You'll get your support." Linron replied grudgingly before resuming her silence."

"Bout time you decided to accept it. We done here yet?" Wrex rolled his shoulders.

"There's still one more thing we must discuss." Tevos held her hand up to stop Wrex.

"With the Reapers defeated, we have to consider what we should do with the other races."

"Which ones are you referring to counselor?" Shepard asked.

"The leviathans. Shepard in your report you said that they were the first race that the Reapers took their likeness from. Their abilities of controlling other lesser beings is a dangerous thing. We can't have something like that wandering the galaxy enslaving people for their own needs." Tevos explained.

"I agree. Even if they are a dying race, the amount of power they wield is beyond controllable." Sparatus shook his head.

"That's not entirely true counselor. After Shepard found the leviathans and somehow obtained their support, several special ops teams volunteered to transport thrall devices that the leviathans use. These devices allowed the leviathans to control Reaper forces and according to Shepard took down an entire Reaper." Hackett interrupted.

"Are they safe? Whats to stop them from turning those teams into thralls." Valern asked.

"They won't need to. The leviathans have already taken control of a large amount of collector forces that the Reapers intended to use. These collectors now serve as their agents and have even aided our forces throughout the galaxy. The bulk of these collector forces were last reported to on 2181 Desponia where the leviathans reside." Hackett continued.

"The last of the thrall devices have been securely contained and shielded to prevent further influence. Once reconstruction is finished, I intend to form a quarantine fleet to monitor and interact with any agents that may come from Desponia."

"I admire the initiative admiral. To bolster your efforts, the fleet should be composed of many other races. Humanity should not stand alone on this." Victus proposed.

"Very well. The leviathans shall be contained on Desponia and may only interact with us via agents that we will screen. If their intentions are suspicious at best we will respond with an investigation and force if necessary. Needless to say that the quarantine will also apply to a species like the yahg." Tevos declared. She was no longer hesitant in making a decision regarding dangerous races. She had already been wrong about the Reapers.

"What should we do with the Raloi?" Sparatus added.

"They were still new to the galaxy. It's only natural they would pull back to their home world and cut themselves off when the Reapers invaded." Shepard responded. While he had never met a raloi, a new species discovering they werent alone was monumental let alone finding out that the Reapers planned to harvest all life.

"We will make contact with them again eventually. For now we will let them be." Valern decided.

"Is there anything else of importance that we need to discuss?" Hackett asked while scanning the faces around the room.

"Admiral. Is the Normandy with the fleet?" Shepard asked without delay.

Hackett paused and looked at Shepard with a furrowed brow.

"I'm sorry Shepard. The Normandy was not accounted for. We've tried contacting them via QEC but all we've gotten so far is static. They are out there, just keep strong." Hackett reassured Shepard after seeing the slump in the commander's posture.

"Thank you adm-" Shepard started saying when all of the QEC's switched off. The power flickered on and off several times before the sound of the alarms went off.

"Staus report! Now!" Herman shouted.

"Unknown sir! Massive power loss throughout the base. Back up generators already compensating. Receiving a message from the surface tower."

"Put it on speaker."

The technician complied immediately and played the message through the speakers.

"_Enemy co..act! They bre..hed the perimeter. Size of force unk..wn! Req...ting immediate back up! It's ...s! Open fire!... _

"I want all available surface personnel to engage the enemy! All base personnel are to be on high alert and prevent anyone from getting in!" Herman ordered.

**Well there we have folks. Unfortunately I have not been able to start the next chapter because I am in the process of moving again so the next chapter may be delayed. I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time!**


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